As
the darkness of this world increasingly comes to light, the body of Christ must
saturate itself in the teachings of Jesus Christ. These teachings are written in scripture and
written in our hearts when He speaks to us.
We must become not only “hearers”, but “doers” of His word (James 1:22).

As
the popularity of Jesus grew when He was here on earth, many people began to
follow Him. The crowds flocked to Him
because of the miracles of healing (John 6:2).
He was also feeding them at these teaching events free of charge. If He
left an area, they got into boats and followed Him to where He had gone (John
6:23-24).

Because of the Holy Spirit’s power in Him, he
knew the hearts of the people who followed Him (He knows your heart today). They did not always have good intentions (John
6:26). At times when Jesus spoke they
seemed genuinely interested in His teachings about the God-life (John
6:28). He spoke to them in parables (earthly
situations) so that they could grasp the reality of spiritual truths. They listened to Him literally because their
interests were in the sense realm (see, touch, feel, hear, and taste). Even though He went so far as to interpret
the symbolic meanings of His words, they still missed it or doubted (John
6:41).

An example of their misinterpreted focus is
revealed in the discourse recorded in John 6:31-40 when He spoke of Himself as
the “Bread of Life”. Some Jews took
issue with Him referencing Himself as such.
He was also being questioned
about His intimate relationship to the Father.
They wanted to make Him “the son of Joseph” and not “the Son of God”
(John 6:42). Although Jesus labored to help them understand who He was and His
relationship to the Father, they still doubted (John 6: 43).

This
spiritual revelation about the “Bread of Life” and His relationship to God and
man “blew up” in John 6:53-58 when Jesus told them “You cannot have life in you
except you eat My flesh and drink My blood”.
He spoke these words in a synagogue (John 6:59). Soon many of the disciples who followed Him left
and returned to their old associations (John 6:66).

Jesus
was firm in His knowledge and mission and was not troubled the least bit by
those who either interpreted it incorrectly, chose not to believe, or chose to
walk away. His message was fixed in
eternity and therefore unchangeable (Psalms 119:89). There was no plan to “compromise the truth” or
“go after” those who had left. He simply
did a “fact check” or “reality check” of His most intimate followers (the 12
disciples) that remained with Him. He simply asked them “Will you also go away?”
(John 6:67)

The
twelve disciples of Jesus did not always get it right, but this time Simon
Peter nailed it. He said “Lord, to whom
shall we go? You have the words of
eternal life.”

Now
the question for the body of Christ today is, “Will we also go away from the
forever settled word of God and start perverting it with our “sense” realm
interpretations?” These sense realm interpretations
rationalize and bind us to the ungodly and perverted ways of men.

The
reason some of the disciples walked away from Jesus is because they said His
teachings were “hard” (John 6:60). “Soft
teachings” of compromise and rationalization justify man but are an abomination
to God. “Soft teachings” lead to death
(spiritual and physical).

God
is not troubled by the ruthless affairs of men.
He knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). We (Christ’s body) have a poignant question
to answer in these times of darkness before our Lord returns. “Will we walk away from God’s truth or will we
understand that His truth does not change, cannot be rearranged, and does not validate
disobedience, compromise, hatred, injustice, and sin?”

Will you also go away?

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Why "Hepzibah in Training?"

More than twenty five years ago I stood in a powerful praise and worship service. As I entered into worship weeping in the presence of the King, I heard the voice of Jesus in my spirit. He called me two names. The first name was Hephzibah and the second was Beulah. I was stunned and immediately sat down on the bench to ponder these two names. Neither of these names appeared flattering to me.

I left church and called my sister, a mighty warrior of God, and told her that God had called me two names. Her reply was “If God called me names; I needed to find out what they meant.” I searched scripture and found that the name Hephzibah means, “The Lord delights in her” and that Beulah meant, “Thy land is married (committed, spoken for, etc). Needless to say, I was delighted in the significance of these two names that my Savior has bestowed upon me. My goal and treasure in life is to fulfill the plan for my life on this side of Eternity and to train for the other side of Eternity.

I offer you the revelations, thoughts, and meditations that God imparts to me in this blog “Hepzibah In Training”.